Disclaimer: I do not own FF8 or its characters. Except in my dreams…
A/N: This story serves as my personal interpretation of the following:
1. Why Quistis ended up following Seifer to Timber
2. Perhaps why Seiftis fans imagine chemistry to exist between Seifer and Quistis
3. A glimpse into how the NORG revolt got started.
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...No leadership qualities...Failed instructor...
She had been searching for silence since the night began, and yet the words rang louder and louder still, until she felt as though they were her breath, her own heart.
...No leadership qualities...Failed instructor...
She had no memory of rejection. A prodigy some had called her. Highly advanced for her age. A SeeD at fifteen, and instructor at seventeen. She had only known success until tonight; a night that had held so much promise, a night of new beginnings. But instead, she felt as if her life was ending. Not one rejection, but two. More failure than she had ever known. How she loathed herself.
She could not remember when the rain began, but its incessant play on the fountains' surface tore at her self-control. As her own tears joined the deluge she realized where she was sitting; near the front entrance, next to the draw point. It was only a matter of hours before the area was cacophonous with the newly instated SeeDs, ripe for their first missions. The predicted noise perturbed her soul further, and she stood to find a less obvious refuge.
He did not want to do it, she could tell. It was with a heavy heart that Cid relieved her of her duties. The Garden Staff seemed all-too-pleased with the new arrangement. They felt an underage instructor was bad for business. But Cid had been like a father to her. It was he who took her in when her adopted mother, frustrated when the foster money dried up, left her on Garden's doorstep. It made it harder, seeing the look on his face as the Garden Staff barked out her failings. She almost wished he had looked angry. But his face was all pity, which made his rejection so much more painful. But it was nothing – a pinprick – compared to what happened next.
The cloud might have some silver lining, she had thought. Her demotion to infantry status hurt her pride but filled her heart with hope. As much as she enjoyed her position of authority and the respect and admiration from other students, it isolated her from her peers. But now, now she was one of them. More importantly, she was just like him. Perhaps they'd deploy on a mission together. Or maybe they would be assigned an Intel project. Not too far fetched. He was certainly bright for his age, and it was likely that Garden would want an experienced SeeD to mentor him, to protect him. These thoughts comforted her as she rushed from the Headmaster's Office to the Ball, not even bothering to change clothes. He would be there, and they could begin a new chapter together, but this time as equals.
How utterly, completely stupid. She now chastised herself. How could I have been so blind? How did she not see that he would be there, not alone, but in the arms of another – more beautiful – woman. How could she think that, even after she pried him away, he had ever thought of her as anything more than his instructor.
How cold his eyes had been, when all she wanted was a little warmth. Even the slightest sign of sympathy or camaraderie. Even if he didn't care for her as she did him, would it have been too much to express friendship, or empathy?
Perhaps its for the best. She thought now, the sun now breaching the sky and the rain starting to wane. Perhaps it is best that he rejected her outright, eliminating any glimmer of hope. It would, at least, spare her the heartbreak of watching him fall in love with another woman – perhaps this new woman – while she secretly pined away for him.
...No leadership qualities...Failed instructor...
It was more true than they knew. And now she had nothing. Her whole life seemed to trickle down the drains with the rainwater, and as the sound of cars and trains filled the air, she realized how desperately directionless she was. SeeDs new and old would be flitting off into the world trying to maintain order, and she was stranded in Garden, her life in utter chaos.
Good luck, she found herself thinking. But whether she was speaking to the departing mercenaries or to herself she did not know.
A harsh voice interrupted her reverie. "You are under orders to stop and desist!"
At first, she thought the words were intended for her. She stood to attention; an apologetic look on her face. Yet, as she saw the two Garden Staff hurrying after a blonde- haired streak of lightening, she knew that she was mistaken.
"I told you I will handle this! It is not your concern!" A very red-faced headmaster trailed behind, breathing heavily and awkwardly. The parade was heading straight towards her, and despite the celerity of the events, it did not take her long to understand that Seifer Almasy was – of course- the cause of the dispute.
A few Training center lengths ahead of the Staff, Seifer was upon her at once. She instinctively blocked his progression, her instructor instincts repossessing her.
"That's far enough, Seifer." She said. Her voice monotone, her poise miraculously returning. "I don't know what you've done, but it ends here."
"Out of my way, Instructor!" He shouted, slowing as he approached. He drew his gunblade, swiftly and fluidly. In that moment she thought simultaneously that he might actually deign to use it, and also that it was a shame that he had such a poor attitude, as his form was perfect.
"Miss Trepe, stop that man!" Still too far away to be relevant, the Garden Staff issued their instructions. Their gaunt voices stung as she remembered the last time they addressed her.
"Seifer, I don't know what this is about, but –"
"They're sending Puberty Boy and Chicken Wuss to go help Rinoa!"
She nearly choked on the air. "Puberty Boy? Squall?" She asked. Her voice beginning to betray her emotion. "But wait, whose Rin-"
"Look Instructor, I just can't let it happen. They're too young and too inexperienced and regardless of the circumstances, she is still too important to me. So I'm going and that's all there is to it. Someone needs to protect her."
Protect. She thought. The word had a strange resonance within her. He needed to protect this girl, this Rinoa. Suddenly the world faded out, and although she could hear Headmaster Cid hollering in the distance (I told you all that that was enough! I will handle my own students! Can't you see that he's just upset?! Why I ever trusted you in the first place…), she heard a younger Cid in her head; closer, more gentle.
"Protect them. Watch over them as if they were your family. Because they are your family. Never forget that."
They were strange words from a different time, and yet she had no memory of them. But suddenly, a fire woke within her. Her students were on a mission, a dangerous one, and they were alone. Stripped of her title, robbed of her identity, her love for them – her love for him – was all that she had left. He could tell her to talk to a wall a million times over, but she would never stop caring for him.
She returned to the present, but time had slowed. She saw the fire in Seifer's eyes, the expressionless Faculty, and the very worried and very flustered Cid. Cid in the present. Cid who was speaking to her again.
"Quistis, help him! Protect him!"
Protect them. Never forget that.
"Go." She whispered. It was nearly silent, but Seifer felt the force of it, and barreled on ahead of her. Finding her calm, Quistis summoned a Quake spell. The ground before the Faculty rippled and curled, and eventually severed, leaving them stranded and stalled.
Without a second thought, Quistis turned on her heels and ran. Her mind did not consider her empty pack, her relatively dry inventory of magic, her serious lack of Elixir or Phoenix Down. All she could hear were Cid's phantom words, and all she could see was Squall's face, Zell's face, the faces of her students who were in danger.
A nearby guard on a patrol motorbike sailed into Seifer's path. A stop spell disarmed him, and Seifer hopped the motorbike while it was still running. Without a second glance, without a second thought, Quistis hopped on behind him.
"Drive. Hurry, there will be more coming." She ordered.
Seifer smiled as he revved the engine. "I don't know what the hell you're doing, Instructor, but you better not slow me down."
She smiled back, and realized that it was the first time in recent memory that she had been genuinely happy. Happy because she had purpose. Happy because she knew, deep down, that this was somehow right.
"Don't worry. I won't."
___
"Protect them all." Cid echoed, as the unlikely pair roared out of site. Quistis and Seifer, who would have thought? And yet there was no time for such musings. The predictions his wife had made years earlier were all starting to come true, it seemed. Fate, she had said, would tear their marriage apart. And yet, it would bring the children together. He did not think that they would be so young – Squall only seventeen and a brand new SeeD - but everything seemed to be failing into place.
Except this place.. he thought. The Garden Faculty looked mutinous, and approached him with as much malice as was possible on their featureless faces.
"You dare defy Garden Policy." They said in unison.
"I was under the assumption that Garden was still under my control." Cid remarked wryly.
"NORG will hear about this." They remarked, and left him with his thoughts.
"Yes," he said to himself "It is definitely time to have a talk with NORG."